SE 2 : \ BS » [] » a The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, February 28, 1996 5" Jack Hilsher Qur 16th President's birthday, two days before Valentine's Day, has once again slipped by almost unnoticed, with hardly a ripple. But you were promised some new material - at least I can’t remem- ber any of it in history books - so here ‘tis. From the time Abraham Lin- coln- was 23 until his death, with the exception of one five-year pe- riod, he either held a political office or campaigned for one. His law partner Bill Herndon said, “It was inthe world of politics that he lived. Politics were his life, news- papers his food, and his great ambition his motive power.” Itwas natural then that he was romantically attracted to Mary Todd, plump but pretty, a flirt and a political groupie. When she entertained there were always a few elected officials among her suitors, including Stephen A. Douglas, later an Illinois senator who was to become Lincoln's ri- val! © Mary and Abe soon became id but he broke off fearing JWI. { John W. Johnson First of a three-part series Despite a fading away of health care reform rhetoric (and that's as much a politically necessary fad- ing away of Hillary Rodham Clinton as it is the issue itself) there remain many persons con- cerned about, and committed to, changing this country's health care mind. oIt all boils down to dollars and cents; to purchase goods, ser- vices, luxuries and the time to enjoy them, versus who has more of the former, so as to be able to acquire more of the latter. This endless financial game which is the lifeblood of capitalism can be seen in headlines, and heard in soundbites daily. And at the heart (no pun in- tended) of those who want health care reform is the cost of that Service vis a vis lack of access to : That's why the rich are ner- =" vous. They own companies which provide health care. And no mat- ter, how you slice it, the rich are going to be subsidizing the poor, and all of us will then have a mediocre health care, as opposed to the quality health care for most, and no health care for some, that we have now. Health care reform has been on ® the citizen collective mind for some time now with polsters finding that health care was at the top of Little know Lincoln facts — seances, gloves and knives his ability to earn enough money to support her. This move caused his health to deteriorate and im- proved only after their marriage. They had one son in less than a year and three others in the next decade. Mary Lincoln was given to vio- lentoutbursts oftemper, and once chased Lincoln with a butcher knife. Their neighbor in Spring- field said, “Whenever Mrs. L. got the devil in her, Lincoln would laugh, pay no earthly attention, pick up one of the children and walk off.” Mary and Abe lost one child at the age of four, and after they moved to the White House she began having problems. Criti- cized for her expensive clothing and entertaining, she was accused of being a Confederate spy be- cause her brother, three half- brothers and three brothers-in- law were all in Confederate uni- form. Another son died and she re- ported nightly visitations from him. She ran up bills of $27,000 for clothes - including more than 300 pairs of gloves - and accused Lincoln of alleged attentions to other women. After the assassination she was hysterical for months, and finally son Robert arranged for a sanity hearing and she was placed in an institution. She was released af- ter four months and died at age 63 in 1882. Only one of their four sons sur- vived adolescence; Robert Todd Lincoln, who served as Secretary of War under President Garfield. During their White House stay, Mary Lincon had persuaded the President to participate in several seances; he was deeply interested in psychic phenomena and wanted to communicate with a dead son. Once Lincoln reported that he had attended a seance in which a piano was raised and moved around the room. Professional mediums who had worked with him were convinced he definitely had extraordinary psychic pow- ers. He did take dreams seriously and would report them at cabinet meetings. He once said, “I claim not to have controlled events, but con- fess plainly that events have con- trolled me.” Mary Lincoln for her part once said, “Do you mean to say that she saw the President alone? Do you know that I never allow the President to see any woman alone?” The next quotes will have to be from the man who ended all the quotes, John Wilkes Booth: “Our country owes all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of His punishment.” Health care reform won't cure all the system's 1lls citizens concerns, saying changes were needed in the method, pay- ment for, and accessibility to health care. Of course, what the pollsters didn’t discriminate between were those persons who responded by saying a primary concern was los- ing health care if they became unemployed. The issue then is not health care; rather, the basic economy. But the Clinton Administration seized upon the (I believe) deliber- ately misinterpreted polls, as an excuse to promote the real left- wing agenda. Like the social re- formers of the1960's and the Great Society's attempt to redistribute income, the health care reformers of today want to redistribute gov- ernment spending. “We in America suffer from a great delusion,” the late (and made by Watergate famous) U.S. Sena- tor Sam Ervin once said. “We think we can pass a law and ev- erything will be cured.”...again, no pun intended. The attitude noted by Ervin includes just about everyone: la- borers, government employees, electronics technicians, florists...the list includes virtu- ally all of us, and could go on forever. And ol immeasurable length seems lo be the list of spe cial benefits wanted by virtually everyone [rom the ‘government.’ Everylime we ask the govern- ment for help instead of doing it ourselves we lose self respect and gain more governmental control Altar/Rosary Society to meet March 6 St. Therese's Altar and Rosary Society will meet March 6 at 7:15 for the Rosary recitation and regular monthly meeting. The society will sell homemade scones after all Masses March 2 and followed 3, and'will host the World Day of Prayer March 1 at 1 p.m., by refreshments. i PU The Journal to a friend It makes a great gift Call 587-1148 for details PHARMACY 1159 a Memorial Hwy., ~~ Shavertown, PA 675-1191 over lives. Instead of self respect, the pre- dominant character traits in America today are, to name a few: —demanding more money for less work. —putting immediale security above sell respect. —generations of welfare recipi- ents now with no grasp of the notion of taking care of one's self, that idea having been supplanted by the myth of ‘entitlements.’ It is true thal in.an age (New York City excepted) where sur- vival is not paramount, self re- spect becomes more an idealistic symbol than a realistic response. But what better symbol to pass along and insure future genera- tions? To be sure, access to health care by Americans, at something less than a $10 per aspirin cost, is long overdue. But turning the entire mess over lo yet another bureaucracy would be, indeed, throwing the baby out with the bath water. Next week: Part two. Combine your auto and homeowners insurance oJol [Te [ER 14} {0 0) 12 Comprehensive Coverage Competitive Rates CNA's Universal Security Policy (0r:1/ 4 Slocum Insurance AY [Ti [ea VAR [118 SYER Teale l gE 1H o ITAA Dallas, PA 18612 675-1167 (er practice ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALISTS OF NORTHEASTERN WE I IERIMiEL ILS 8 but not our Peter A. Feinstein, M.D., and James J. Heintz, M.D., bring together nearly 20 years of combined orthopedic and reconstructive surgical experience under a new practice name. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Feinstein or Dr. Heintz, please call 826-5559. WYOMING VALLEY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM commitment to quality rthopedic care. A Case for conservation Alene N. Case During the past 40 years, we have been living through an agri- cultural era known as the Green Revolution. The production of food in almost all parts of the world has become more and more de- pendent on machinery and chemi- cals and less and less on local knowledge and hard work. The obvious result has been an in- crease in the amount of food pro- duced. But, now we have reached a point at which this increase in production is slowing dramati- cally, and people are beginning to ask serious questions about the real costs of highly mechanized agriculture. Some of these costs have re- ceived a lot of press — water pollu- tion due to pesticides and herbi- cides, erosion of land which has been stripped of all native vegeta- tion, and loss of jobs in the farm economy. However, there other, more subtle, costs. These relate to the loss of diversity in the types of plants grown for food. Equal opportunity in the garden is not a luxury - our continued health and well-being may de- pend on it. Let me explain. The variety of fruits and veg- etables grown in this country and around the world has been steadily decreasing. Most of the corn grown in the United States now comes from only six varieties. India used to grow 30,000 types of rice; most of the rice there now comes from only 10 varieties. Look at the se- lection of apples in your super- market and you will not need fur- ther convincing that our choices are limited. This is not simply a matter of choices for our dinner tables. The commonly grown vari- eties of food are chosen for rea- sons other than taste and nutri- are Let's promote equal ~~ “# opportunity in the garden: tion. They are grown because they store and ship well, because they do not bruise easily, because they all ripen at the same time so that machines can harvest them, be- cause modern pesticides keep them blemish free, and because they have a high yield per unit area. Many of the most popular veg- etables and grains are hybrids. That means that the first genera- tion has the high yield and dis- ease resistance of the two parent varieties, but that vigor is not passed on to most of the plants grown in future years. Therefore, seed for hybrids must be pur- chased each year no matter how poor the farmer. Obviously, seed companies are interested in mak- ing money this way instead of selling seed for plants that are truly adapted [or high yield and disease resistance. Farmers could save seed from such plants each year and enjoy the benefits year alter year. In fact, such plants would become even better adapted to the local growing conditions as the years passed, and the farmer could select seed from the best plants lo save [or next year's plant- ing. The number of wild, semi-wild and ancient cultivars has been decreasing also. One research sta- tion in the western U.S. rescued a wild perennial type of corn from Mexico just before “development” destroyed its native habitat. They are now working hard to see if this corn can be grown for food in other places. It would be wonder- fulifwe could save soil, petroleum and walter by planting such corn together with a nitrogen fixer such as alfalfa and simply harvest the grain. Other research on wild or ancient varieties of crops may give us “new” beans that have excep- tionally high protein content, sun: flowers that provide their own herbicides and tomatoes that ac- tually taste good in winter. Bul. how can we help with this effort if we are not researchers or, farmers? We can start to grow heirloom plants in our own gars dens, save the seed and share it with others. There are some very interesting seed companies and membership organizations that : are helping ordinary gardeners preserve the genetic diversity of our food crops. I will only have’ room {o list a few here. If you want’ further information, please con- tact me through this newspaper. - the Heritage Seed Program is a, rather unique organization: They, do not sell seeds; they merely ask that those who become members and take seed to grow share their’ saved seed with other gardeners.” Membership is $18 a year ($1510* those on a fixed income.) The 'ad- dress is The Heritage Seed Pro-" gram, RR3, Uxbridge Ontario, 195 1R3, CANADA. : One of my favorite seed cali: logs comes from Seeds of Change, P.O. Box 15700, Santa Fe NM. 87506-5700. They not only’ sell organically grown seeds of famil- iar and unfamiliar plants, but they also include educational articles and sell books to help all of us become more in tune with the natural world as we garden. ~.: ¢ If you are interested in more local varieties, you might want to, send a dollar to Heirloom Seeds, P.O. Box 245, West Elizabeth PA 15088 and they will send you a catalog. Or perhaps you would like to learn more about such’ activities and organizations’ by tracking down a book on the sub- ject. The Garden Seed Inventory is published by the Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn RD. of Decorah IA 52101, which has fe. membership fee of $25. This book may also be available in libraries. Our efforts should be rewarded’. with greater variely, more savory food and higher nutrition. And, who knows? The varieties we save today may be really important in . the agriculture of the future. : Happy gardening! > Use the coupon on page 2 to subscribe Sa - AH BALNRL MUFFLER/BRAKE Kingston - 332 Wyoming Avenue ng Tr Now open in Dallas at: State Route 309 283-1965 Mufflers % of f Manufacturer's list price HM No appointment necessary! HB Free written estimates! HM Fast free installation! HB Worldwide Lifetime Muffler Guarantee! All-Season Steel Belted Grenadier OF from $3 [95 P155/80 R13 H 40,000 mile treadwear warranty! H All-weather dependability! HB Everyday low price! 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